Earlier today I shared an article on the new, mandatory directive at Jewel. Employees are required to escort your shopping cart to your car, even if you do not require assistance loading your groceries. The Oswego Patch has a new story about the service, and there are 50+ responses from Jewel shoppers – most of them upset about employees “hovering” around you as you leave the store and load your items:
No Means No: Is Jewel’s Mandatory Cart-to-Car Service Too Much?
If you haven’t shopped at your local Jewel-Osco grocery store in a while, be prepared for a new customer service initiative that you may, or may not, appreciate.
It’s called the “cart-to-car” service… whether you want the help or not, your bagger is expected to follow you and your cart out to your vehicle.
The service is mandatory, though Jewel-Osco denies it has anything to do with keeping track of shopping carts…
“We understand that this is a very different service and it might take our customers some time to understand that we want this to be the norm,” said a Jewel customer service representative.
Read the entire article at The Oswego Patch
Coupon Maven says
This article was picked up by more than 20 Chicagoland Patch local affiliates tonight, with different comments on the syndicated feeds:
Lake Forest Patch:
“I was at my Jewel in Libertyville and my bagger started to walk out of the store with my cart, not even giving me a chance to tell her I didn’t need any help. Once at my car, she stated that she does this for tips…but no tips in the store.”
Naperville Patch:
Haven’t experienced nor want to experience the service. I don’t need any help. Want to make them quit? Walk around the parking lot a few times “trying” to remember where you parked! When there are no baggers in the store, maybe management will get the hint. “I think it will help the employees of the store get to know their customers better” – seriously? The kids who are baggers don’t want to get to know you any more than you want to get to know them.
Algonquin Patch:
This happened to us last week. I don’t care for it. I was shopping with my children and the presence of a stranger was uncomfortable.
Libertyville Patch:
I refuse to shop at Sunset because of this very “service”. I find it creepy and intrusive. You want me to shop at your store? Don’t greet me at the door, don’t ask me every three feet what you can do for me and don’t touch my stuff. Leave me alone
Park Ridge Patch:
this is crazy i work at jewels in a suburb and i must say the parking lot gets pretty empty sometimes i WOULD NOT want to get abducted im serious this scares me
thespian says
man. y’all in the midwest are WAY more polite than those of us in Boston with be if our local Cerberus store started this nonsense.
Susiem68 says
Well when I feel like being a real pain and something is not going my way I have an annoying strategy that I think I will employ here. When I go to a fast food, especially drive through, and they mess it up and I have to go back around to get it fixed, I sometimes hand it all back and tell them to give me my money back for everything, because I am now so aggregated I want none of it. This usually ties up the drive thru because they have no idea how to do it and requires a manager. Their system is setup that they expect to mess up and you just come back and get another one. Well that does not work for me. It is inconvenient and sometimes dangerous because they have messed up allergy specific orders many times. If they inconvenience me, i will inconvenience them. It is one local Mcdonald’s in particular that has about 50 percent accuracy rate. I do this usually when they grossly mix up the order or I have an important special request like we have a fish allergy so please put the fish in a separate bag. So anyway I think I will tell Jewel if I am not allowed to go out to my car in peace by myself they can return everything in my cart and I will go elsewhere. The threat of the loss of my business may not be enough to make them consider changing their behavior at that moment, but being forced to choose between leave me alone or refund my money and restock this cartful of stuff may give them pause.
taxkim says
after living and vacationing in a few different parts of the country, I forgot when I moved back here that you have to actually take your groceries to the car by yourself. we have become such a nation of do-it-yourself, that we have forgotten what customer service is. and if you want to complain that jewel is one of our more expensive stores, than enjoy the assistance. and those with babies, let someone else load the car while you’re putting baby in their car seat. i don’t know what the tip policy will be, i have been places where you did and places where you didn’t tip.